Apr 01, 2007; Portland, Oregon, USA; Veterinarian dentist Ron Tribble, from the Wildlife Safari park in Winston, Oregon, performs surgery to try to remove an infected tusk from Tusko the Asian elephant at the Oregon Zoo. The 6.75-ton, 35-year-old bull elephant had surgery in February to try to remove the chronically infected, broken left tusk, but doctors were unable to remove a chunk of compacted, hard dentin tissue in the deep part of the tusk cavity. Doctors plan to remove the last few...more »

Apr 01, 2007; Portland, Oregon, USA; Veterinarian dentist Ron Tribble, from the Wildlife Safari park in Winston, Oregon, performs surgery to try to remove an infected tusk from Tusko the Asian elephant at the Oregon Zoo. The 6.75-ton, 35-year-old bull elephant had surgery in February to try to remove the chronically infected, broken left tusk, but doctors were unable to remove a chunk of compacted, hard dentin tissue in the deep part of the tusk cavity. Doctors plan to remove the last few inches of the tusk by drilling more deeply during this surgery. Tusko, a former circus elephant, was trained to lie on the 12-by-16-foot, 2,000-gallon waterbed for the surgery.« less